shut
Americanverb (used with object)
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shuts,
present (3rd person singular)
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shut,
past participle, past
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shutting
present participle
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to put (a door, cover, etc.) in position to close or obstruct.
- Antonyms:
- open
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to close the doors of (often followed byup ).
to shut up a shop for the night.
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to close (something) by bringing together or folding its parts.
Shut your book. Shut the window!
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to confine; enclose.
to shut a bird into a cage.
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to bar; exclude.
They shut him from their circle.
- Synonyms:
- prohibit
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to cause (a factory, school, etc.) to end or suspend operations, services, or business activity.
He shut his store, sold his house, and moved away.
We're shutting the office for two weeks in June.
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to bolt; bar.
verb (used without object)
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shuts,
present (3rd person singular)
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shut,
past participle, past
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shutting
present participle
adjective
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closed; fastened up.
a shut door.
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Phonetics. checked.
noun
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the act or time of shutting or closing.
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the line where two pieces of welded metal are united.
verb phrase
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shut off
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to stop the passage of (water, traffic, electricity, etc.); close off.
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to isolate; separate.
an outpost almost completely shut off from civilization.
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shut in
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to enclose.
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to confine, as from illness.
She broke her leg in a fall and has been shut in for several weeks.
-
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shut up
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to imprison; confine.
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to close entirely.
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Informal. to stop talking; become silent (often used as a rude command).
Just sit down and shut up! I thought the neighbors would never shut up and let me sleep.
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Informal. to stop (someone) from talking; silence.
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Informal. (used to express disbelief or astonishment).
You dated her in high school? Shut up!
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shut down
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to close, especially temporarily; end or suspend operations, services, or business activity.
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to stop operating or stop the operation of (a machine).
Did you remember to shut down your computer?
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Informal. Also shut down onupon to hinder; check; stop from doing or saying something.
He appeared on the talk show to shut down his critics.
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Informal. to defeat or outdo.
The team was able to shut down the offense.
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to settle over a place so as to envelop or darken it.
The fog shut down rapidly.
-
-
shut of free of; rid of.
He wished he were shut of all his debts.
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shut out
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to keep from entering; exclude.
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to hide from view.
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to prevent (an opponent or opposing team) from scoring, as in a game of baseball.
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verb
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to move (something) so as to cover an aperture; close
to shut a door
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to close (something) by bringing together the parts
to shut a book
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to close or lock the doors of
to shut up a house
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(tr; foll by in, out, etc) to confine, enclose, or exclude
to shut a child in a room
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(tr) to prevent (a business, etc) from operating
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to ignore deliberately
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to refuse to think about
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to render impossible
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adjective
noun
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the act or time of shutting
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the line along which pieces of metal are welded
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slang to get rid of
Synonym Usage
See close.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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shutsimple
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shutssimple
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have shutperfect
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has shutperfect
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am shuttingprogressive
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are shuttingprogressive
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is shuttingprogressive
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have been shuttingperfect progressive
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has been shuttingperfect progressive
Past
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shutsimple
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had shutperfect
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was shuttingprogressive
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were shuttingprogressive
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had been shuttingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of shut
First recorded before 1000; Middle English s(c)hutten, s(c)hetten, s(c)hitten Old English scyttan “to bolt (a door)”; akin to shoot 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"If oil flows from the Middle East are disrupted once more, or if there are more attacks on refineries or more refineries shut down, refining margins could move higher," Brooks forecast.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
"If it were really serious, I think they would have shut everything down by now," one man, who did not provide his name, told AFP in the remote Siberian city of Irkutsk.
From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026
"The last time they were involved... Jersey was slamming the door shut, so they have switched off and turned their attention elsewhere," he said.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
The co-portfolio manager at Heartland Advisors urges investors to shut out Wall Street’s hype on AI and look for companies that can use its technology as costs come down.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
Clare gathered himself from the floor and, with great effort against the howling wind, pushed his door shut.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
“That impact would be significant. If we did have a strike, essentially the 777 certification program shuts down until we get the engineers back. And it will have a ripple effect even into our production.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
To prevent overuse, it automatically shuts off after 20 minutes.
From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026
On Nyepi, the island's airport shuts down and internet access is cut.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Misuse of therapy speak, or the casual use of clinical psychology terms, is a pervasive problem, and one that therapists note actually shuts down communication, as opposed to improving it.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
I wait for him to ask me where we’re going but he just shuts the door behind him and says, “I thought maybe you forgot about me. Haven’t seen you around much.”
From "Amari and the Night Brothers" by B.B. Alston
In a city that was built on oil and remains home to over 2,000 active wells, zoning officials are considering a first: shutting down an oil production site.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026
But Pentagon missile orders for the Tucson factory dipped so low in recent years that further cuts risked shutting down the Tomahawk line.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
Her three siblings have already emigrated, and she is considering shutting down her small delicatessen to follow them abroad.
From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2026
She learned through experience that shutting down her emotional response was a way to ride through the highs and lows with minimal impact.
From Slate ● Sep. 23, 2026
Violet and Klaus spent several minutes opening and shutting Count Olaf’s kitchen cupboards, but there weren’t any cookbooks to be found.
From "The Bad Beginning" by Lemony Snicket
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
